2015
Title
2015
Creator
Jacob Schlitt
Description
"Thank God, it will soon be 2015."
Date
2014-12-25
Format
application/pdf
Type
text
Language
en
Coverage
2014
Identifier
2015
Text
2015
Thank God, it will soon be 2015. Not that 2014 was so terrible. It may have had a few good points. Off hand, I can’t tell you exactly what. The elections didn’t turn out very well. The same tensions exist in the world, and in our country, and in fact, things may have even gotten worse than they were in 2013. I am counting on 2015 to be better.
To me, the best thing about 2015 is that it will be 2015, a number that I can handle. I have to admit that I have had a great deal of trouble this past year calculating anything either backward or forward from 2014, especially birthdays and anniversaries. Fran was born in 1935. Quick! How old is she? Give me a minute and I will tell you. Next year, it will be a cinch. 80! I started with the ILGWU in 1950. How many years ago was that? For me, it is easier to subtract 1950 from 2015 than from 2014. (The answer, by the way, is either 64 or 65.) The year that really gave me trouble was 2001.
Perhaps, in elementary school, they did a better job drilling the 5’s table into me: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 etc. Let’s face it: the only birthdays and anniversaries for which a big fuss is made is when they fall out on a year that ends in a 5 or a10. (Is that why Woolworth’s named its stores Five and Ten Cents stores? It is certainly a lot easier to pay for something that cost 5 or 10 cents than 7 or 12 cents. And who came up with 98 cents?). But I digress. When do the really big anniversary celebrations take place? Silver—25 years; Gold—50 years; Diamond—75 years. And the very biggest birthday celebration takes place when you hit 100. Very few of us make it.
Jews don’t seem to pay much attention to 5s and 10s. At the Passover Seder, we ask four questions, and drink four cups of wine. Circumcisions are on the 8th day; Chanukah and Passover are 8 days. Bar Mitzvahs are on the 13th year. It took God 6 days to create the world, and on the 7th day He rested. Orthodox kids get their hair cut, and start learning when they are 3. There are 613 Mitzvahs. The only dates ending in 0 that I can think of, are the flood when it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, and the 40 years in the desert, and Moses living for 120 years. (Do you think the Jews in the desert stopped to celebrate Moses’ 100th birthday?) True, Moses gave us 5 Books. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a lot of other Jewish-related numbers unconnected to 5 and 10, perhaps too numerous to mention.
I do not think too many people pay attention to 5s and 10s, other than for celebrations. We hold Federal elections every 2, 4, and 6 years. A week is 7 days, a month is either 30 or 31 days (except for February), and a year has 12 months or 365 days (except for leap year). Somehow, those numbers: 30 days and 365 days, do not have the same cachet as 25, 50 and 100.
What it comes down to, is that it will be easier for me to add and subtract in 2015 than it was in 2014. The whole thing would be irrelevant if I kept a calculator handy. I have an I-phone and I was told that, among all its other “apps,” there is a calculator somewhere inside, but by the time I figure out how to bring it up, and use it, I can do the math in my head. Maybe, in 2015, I will learn to use my I-phone.
HAPPY NEW YEAR.
12-25-14
Thank God, it will soon be 2015. Not that 2014 was so terrible. It may have had a few good points. Off hand, I can’t tell you exactly what. The elections didn’t turn out very well. The same tensions exist in the world, and in our country, and in fact, things may have even gotten worse than they were in 2013. I am counting on 2015 to be better.
To me, the best thing about 2015 is that it will be 2015, a number that I can handle. I have to admit that I have had a great deal of trouble this past year calculating anything either backward or forward from 2014, especially birthdays and anniversaries. Fran was born in 1935. Quick! How old is she? Give me a minute and I will tell you. Next year, it will be a cinch. 80! I started with the ILGWU in 1950. How many years ago was that? For me, it is easier to subtract 1950 from 2015 than from 2014. (The answer, by the way, is either 64 or 65.) The year that really gave me trouble was 2001.
Perhaps, in elementary school, they did a better job drilling the 5’s table into me: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 etc. Let’s face it: the only birthdays and anniversaries for which a big fuss is made is when they fall out on a year that ends in a 5 or a10. (Is that why Woolworth’s named its stores Five and Ten Cents stores? It is certainly a lot easier to pay for something that cost 5 or 10 cents than 7 or 12 cents. And who came up with 98 cents?). But I digress. When do the really big anniversary celebrations take place? Silver—25 years; Gold—50 years; Diamond—75 years. And the very biggest birthday celebration takes place when you hit 100. Very few of us make it.
Jews don’t seem to pay much attention to 5s and 10s. At the Passover Seder, we ask four questions, and drink four cups of wine. Circumcisions are on the 8th day; Chanukah and Passover are 8 days. Bar Mitzvahs are on the 13th year. It took God 6 days to create the world, and on the 7th day He rested. Orthodox kids get their hair cut, and start learning when they are 3. There are 613 Mitzvahs. The only dates ending in 0 that I can think of, are the flood when it rained for 40 days and 40 nights, and the 40 years in the desert, and Moses living for 120 years. (Do you think the Jews in the desert stopped to celebrate Moses’ 100th birthday?) True, Moses gave us 5 Books. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a lot of other Jewish-related numbers unconnected to 5 and 10, perhaps too numerous to mention.
I do not think too many people pay attention to 5s and 10s, other than for celebrations. We hold Federal elections every 2, 4, and 6 years. A week is 7 days, a month is either 30 or 31 days (except for February), and a year has 12 months or 365 days (except for leap year). Somehow, those numbers: 30 days and 365 days, do not have the same cachet as 25, 50 and 100.
What it comes down to, is that it will be easier for me to add and subtract in 2015 than it was in 2014. The whole thing would be irrelevant if I kept a calculator handy. I have an I-phone and I was told that, among all its other “apps,” there is a calculator somewhere inside, but by the time I figure out how to bring it up, and use it, I can do the math in my head. Maybe, in 2015, I will learn to use my I-phone.
HAPPY NEW YEAR.
12-25-14
Original Format
application/msword
Collection
Citation
Jacob Schlitt, “2015,” Autobiographical stories & other writing by Jacob Schlitt, accessed April 28, 2024, https://tsirlson.omeka.net/items/show/245.